Total Life Cycle Cost
One of the key points as we get into the possible rationing of Protons must be the fact that in my experience the Lifetime costs of Proton today are less than x-rays. I talk to a lot of men and often their wives about their post-treatment distress and marvel at the fact that I do not even see my Urologist since treatment in 1999 about the Prostate cancer I had in earlier that year.
My PSA stays at 0.1 I’m just three months short of TEN years, post treatment without side effects and the process gets better continuously.
So it is of some concern that members of the Medical Insurance community are stopping payment for Protons in some states and that seems to be contrary to medical Progress and better lives for many who can benefit from Proton treatment.
I was so happy with my proton treatment that I opened a web site at prostateproton.com in early 2000 (initial contact has been changed to prostateblog.com to attain a broader contact base) that provides information to those men and women who inquire about my personal experience with proton treatment.
Despite reading many differing views on the proton I have NO side effects whatsoever. And, after giving talks about protons to many prostate cancer support groups I was dismayed that so many men who had other treatments were discussing what diaper to wear, and listening to recommendations about how to handle a myriad of problems from the doctors who often talked to these groups. My talks have been provided to the US Too groups under the National Cancer Society that are located nationwide.
Please understand that I spend 3 to four hours a day since I was diagnosed in early 1999 on the subject of “prostate cancer” and have read all that I can find about other treatments.
Rumors on cost and effectiveness must be dispelled particularly since lifetime costs of treatment with protons is far less than any treatment with any X-Ray based treatment. The problem is that almost all radiation treatments use X-Rays up to and including “Cyberknife”.
Protons on the other hand are NOT X-Rays, are extremely accurate, and have the unique capability of being more precisely controlled for application to the cancer or benign tumor being treated.
